Death of a Monster, Birth of a Hero
by Great Angemon
Summary: All his life he'd thought he was a monster, but now, he finally realizes that he's more than that. The lovely cover art is from Quasar-Hunter! It's amazing, innit?


Death of a Monster, Birth of a Hero

By GreatAngemon

Raising his wand, Remus Lupin shot hexes, jinxes and curses across the courtyard of the ancient castle, jets of light illuminating faces, both familiar and not, as they flew towards who-knew-what.

Behind him, he saw a witch from the castle, a member of the group he'd brought onto the grounds, fall as a green jet shot into her chest. Another, a young man, a Slytherin student, fell as a series of sinister black, red and purple bursts of light flew into him. But he kept shooting off his own magic, hoping that they made contact with his enemies, rather than his allies.

Soon, he found himself locked in a confrontation with a pair of men in Ministry of Magic robes. The men were firing counter-hexes off, blocking every spell that he casted, but neither could gain an advantage over him, nor he them. "Expelliarmus," cried a deep voice, and it sent, rather strangely, a feeling of calm through Lupin.

One of the men's wands flew from his hand, and, seizing the advantage, Lupin stunned him, turned to the other, and cast a jinx into his chest.

"Kingsley," he breathed, turning to the tall black man who had assisted him. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you with the group you brought from the castle?"

"You looked like you could use some help," Kingsley said, lowering his wand and striding up to Lupin. Each man raised his wand again, shot off a hex, and turned back to each other. "My group is fine. We have Bill and Charlie."

Both men raised their wands again, and each shot off a volley of green and red lights at a group of men, clad in black robes, that had been approaching them. "I need to get back to my group now," Kingsley said, turning and jogging away. Lupin's eyes followed him as he wove between acromantulas, thestrals and the towering legs of giants, but a new jet of light, shrieking with heat flew, mere inches, past his face.

He turned, and there stood a man with a long, twisted face, his pale skin glowing in the light of the fire engulfing parts the great school, a trickle of blood rolling down his face from his hairline, and his burly body heaving as he breathed deeply.

"Dolohov," Lupin said through gritted teeth. He raised his wand, watching as the other man did the same. And simultaneously, both men flicked their wands.

Jets of light shot from the tips of both men's wands, sinisterly bouncing away as their Shield Charms flew up. "You half-breed mongrel!" Dolohov spat, sidestepping a jinx from Lupin. "This battle is almost over, and the Dark Lord will have Potter! Then all of the half-bloods, and Mudbloods and your kind," he paused, a sneer curling his lip. "The filthy, disgusting half-breeds! They'll all be gone!"

"Remus!" an anxious voice shouted from behind Lupin. He turned and saw Nymphadora running up to him, a half-second before he realized his mistake. And that single moment was his downfall. Turning back he saw there were two streaks of purple flame shooting across the sky: One headed for himself, and the other heading straight for Nymphadora.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lupin brought his wand up once more and bellowed, "Protego Horribilis!"

His charm caught one of the streaks of flame, and with an explosion, Nymphadora was thrown backwards off her feet.

But then Lupin felt something warm, like a breeze of hot air, run into his chest and spread through his body. His legs crumpled under his body. He turned his head and saw Dolohov running away as Nymphadora stood, raised her wand and cried, "Confringo!"

Lupin fell backwards. "Remus, Are you alright? Remus, can you hear me?"

Opening his eyes, Lupin saw Nymphadora's face, her cheeks streaked with tears. "Dora, are you-" he coughed as the warm sensation turned to liquid ice in his veins. "Are you alright?"

He tried to bring his hand up, to reach for hers and to give her comfort with his touch, but all he could do was twitch his fingers.

Nymphadora saw and she seized his hand from the ground. "I'm alright," she whispered.

"I finally realized-" another cough. "I finally realized what you saw in me…" Lupin said. "All my life, I thought I was a monster. You saw that, but you could look past it, and you saw…" he stopped, wheezing for breath as the icy feeling began to feel like knives beneath his skin, cutting his body from the inside-out.

"You saw past the werewolf and knew that inside I was a man with a heart… such a lonely heart."

"You weren't just a man, Remus," Nymphadora said soothingly, stroking the hair from his face. "You are, and always were, a hero. A hero with a big, lonely heart."

From the corner of his eye, Lupin saw something that froze his already icy body; a woman, tall with long, dark hair that shone in the jets of light that flew about her. Lupin couldn't make out her features, but he knew at once who it was: Bellatrix Lestrange, Nymphadora's aunt and the most vicious of the Death Eaters.

"Dora, look out," he tried to whisper, but too late. He heard the woman across the battlefield scream one thing as his vision clouded and then blacked out. His grip on his wife's hand loosened.

"Avada Kedavra!"

And Nymphadora's body fell atop his, her hand still in his own. For the last few moments of his life, Remus' mind flitted around, from his son, Teddy, growing up without the love of his mother and father, to Harry, who he'd never get to see again, to James, Lily and Sirius, his oldest friends.

All of them had seen past the monster inside of himself, but he couldn't. And now, at last, the monster was dying, and the man -the hero- was finally born.


End file.
